Jupiter Fly By – New Horizon

The Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI), equipped with high-performance lenses from Optimax, plays a critical role in deep space exploration. Optimax, renowned for its expertise in optics and precision imaging lenses, produced the optics that give LORRI its extraordinary vision. Known as the “eagle eyes” of NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, LORRI is a powerful black-and-white, high-magnification camera that uses a telescope with an 8.2-inch (20.8-centimeter) aperture, focusing visible light onto a charge-coupled device (CCD)—similar to a digital camera.

During New Horizons' historic flyby in July 2015, LORRI provided the first detailed, close-up views of Pluto and its moons. It later zoomed in on a Kuiper Belt object named Arrokoth in January 2019, offering a rare glimpse of an ancient planetary building block. These unprecedented images of distant worlds, more than 3 billion miles from Earth, have given scientists invaluable insights into the geology and evolution of objects in this remote region. Thanks to Optimax lenses, LORRI continues to gather vital astronomical data from the outermost reaches of our solar system, capturing the shapes and brightness of dozens of other Kuiper Belt objects.

• Images taken by LORRI (Long Range Reconnaissance Imager)

New Horizons is en route to Pluto, and made its closest approach to Jupiter on February 28, 2007, giving more insight into the planet.

The ultraviolet images show aurora emissions that are always present in the polar regions of Jupiter. They are typically 10-100 times brighter than the northern lights seen on the Earth.

Through combined remote imaging by Hubble and in situ measurements by New Horizons, the two missions will enhance each other scientifically, allowing scientists to learn more about Jupiter's atmosphere.

LAUNCHED: 2007

Click these links to find out more about its journey:

Videos and Images Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech

• Check out the entire mission on NASA site
• New Horizon's Stories
• Images Taken by New Horizon